4 quotes that should give you pause

In the vein of our previous post on declining practices, here are some quotes we’ve heard over the last few months that should cause a practice to pause and re-evaluate things.  Unlike the previous post on the topic, these aren’t necessarily indicators that the practice is in trouble, but if you hear them or find yourself saying them, any owner or business manager should take pause and reevaluate the situation.

Quote: “Our policy is to …”

Usually, we hear this in a situation like the following: a practice has a low show-up rate and we ask whether or not the office is making confirmation calls.  This is usually followed up with a quote along the lines of “our policy is make confirmation calls 2 days before every appointment.”

This is usually an indicator that the speaker of the phrase doesn’t actually know whether or not the confirmation calls are being made, but that people have been instructed to make the calls.  Obviously, there is a wide gulf between having a policy in place and ensuring that things are actually being done (this isn’t A Few Good Men).  

Make sure that you ensure policy is being followed either through setting up a field in your practice management system to record policy, setting up systems to ensure policy is being followed (e.g. you cannot get from screen A to screen B on your practice management system without dealing with the policy requirement).  Or simply spend a little time in the appropriate area to observe that policy being followed.

Quote: “Yeah, we’re doing that.”

This usually comes in a response to suggestions for new marketing strategies.  For example, we might say, “you should visit other companies in the same strip mall as you.”  The simple response, “Yeah, we’re doing that.”  This is usually followed by no detail to support that discussion.  This begs a further investigation of that quote.  Visiting other companies may mean anything from saying hello to the purveyor of baubles next door while in the parking lot to having an organized plan to visit business and give them a compelling offer.  Usually, “yeah, we’re doing that” is closer to the former than the latter.

Obviously, this is not a deposition so a response being technically correct is vastly different from doing something in the spirit of the project rather than the letter of it.

Quote: “I’ll be able to get the patients to take …”

This is usually in response to suggesting a lower fee or a new payment plan.   The full response normally takes the form of “I’ll be able to get the patients to take a payment plan with a $750 down payment and still generate more new patients in a month.”

The point here is don’t assume that you can supersell something that you've never sold before or get people to do something that might go against natural human instinct.  Even the most sales-oriented types have their limitations and should recognize them.

Quote: “I don’t know that exact number, but Person X handles that.”

If it is an important number, you need to know it even if Person X is all over it.  The best practices are ones in which the owner and manager know what is going on in the practice at all times.